Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-01-15

decided were not promising enough OF results
to justify cla,nbering up TO where they were
perched At last, almost wearied out, they
halted for little while to rest and scan the
intefninable waves OF SUBMITS that stretched
out before them
@Ah. said Kent, rising suddenly, lets so
on. Hope dawns at last | smell apples.
| That's perfume my nose never mistakes.
We're near an orchard Where there's an
orchard there's likely to be u pretty good
style of house, and where in Kentucky
there's good stylcof house there's Likelihood
of being plenty of good whisky Now THERE'S
a train of brilliant inductive reasoning that
shows that nature intended me to he u great
natural philosopher. Conn on, Abe
The smell of apples certainly did grow more
palpable as they proceeded, and Abe fnntterei
that even if they did not get anything to
drink they would probably get enough OF the
fruit TO make an agreeable change in their
diet
They emerged from the woods into cleared
space where number of roads and paths
focused. To the right was little opening in
the mountain side, hardly large enough TO be
called valley, but designated in the language
of the region as a hollow At its mouth
stood a couple of iiminutive log cabins, of the
rudeSt possible construction. and rooted with
clapboards held in place by stones and
poles a long string of wooden troughs
supported upon props, conducted the water
from an elevated spring to the roof of one
of the cabins, and the water could be seen
issuing again from underneath the logs at one
side of the cabin. A very primitive cider
mill-two wooden rollers fastened in frame.
and moved by a long sapling sweep attached
to one of then-stood near The ground was
covered with rotting apple ponnace from
which arose the odor that had reached Kent 5
nose.
"Hello,7 said the latter, here's luck
here's richness We've succeeded beyond
our most Sanguine expectations, as the boy
said who ran away from school to catch
minnows, and caught ducking, bad cold
and licking. We've struck an apple jack
diStillery, and as they've been at work lately,
they've probably left enough somewhere TO
give US all that we can drink.
Abe's sigh was eloquent of disbelief that
such a consummation was possible, short of
the blissful hereafter.
Inside of one of the cabins they found a
still about the size of a tub, with worm of
similar small proportions, kept cool by the
flow from the spring. Some tubs and barrels,
in which the lees of cider were rapidly turning
to vinegar, gave off fruity, spirituous odor,
but for awhile their eager search did not dis
cover bit of the distilled product At last
Kent, with cry of triumph, dragged from a
place of cunning concealment a small Jug,
stopped with a eorncob. He smeIled it hun
gTily.
YES, here is some. It's appleiack, not a
week old and as rank as a major general
Phewl / can smell every stick they burned to
distill it. Abe, watch me closely while l
drink. l magnanimoasly take the lead, out
of consideration for You. If / amt dead in
five minutes YOU try H.
20, stop monkeying and drink" was the
impatient answer
Kent put the jug to his mouth and took a
long draught Shade Of old Father Noah,
the first drunkard, he said, as he wiped the
tears from his eyes, another swig like that
would pull out all the rivets In my internal
pipings. HeavenSi it went down like pulling
cat out of hole by the tail. Tn afraid to
wipe my mouth, lest my breath burn a hole
in the sleeve of my blouse"
Three quarters of an hour later the spirits
in the jug were lowering and those in the men
rising with unequal rapidity Under the III
fuence of the fiery stimulant, Kents sanguine
| temperament boiled and dubbed over. In
agination painted the present and future in
hues of dazzling radiance. Everything was
as delightful as it could be now, and would
become more charming as time rolled on.
But with Abe Bolton drinking tended to de
E-ploTa rf,f,r into
"Ah, comfort me with applejack. and STAY
Inc with fagons of itl7 said Kent Edwards,
setting down the jug with the circumsoection
of man not yet too drunk to suspect that he
is losing exact control of his legs and arms
That gets better the deeper down Won go
First it was ike swallowing chestnut bur;
now. old hand made Bourbon couldn't he
smoother
"a man can get used 70 almost anything
said Bolton
Il get gladder every day, Abe, that came
into the army. wouldn't have missed all
this experience for the finest farm in the
Miami valley.
'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life
To soldier half a day,
Sir Walter Scott says-as improve him
Specially one of them soaking days when
We We're marching through the mud to Wild
cat"
40, these were just thrown in to make US
appreciate good weather when we have 1t.
Otherwise we wouldn't. You know what the
son. says:
For spring would b. hut gloomy weather,
If we had nothing else but spring.
well, for my part, one o. them days was
enough to pison six months o sunshine. de-
clare, believe III feel widowed for the rest
of my life know if pulled off my clothes
you could serlpe the green mold off of my
back
"And I'm sure that if we'd had the whole
army to pick from, we couldn't We got in
with better lot of boys and officers. Every
one of them's true blue, and man all the
way through. Its the best regiment in the
army, and our conpany's the best company
In the regiment. and tiatter myself the COM
pany hasn't got two other as good men as we
are1
Your modesty II ruin you yet, Kent, :"
said Abe, sardonicalIy. Its very painful to
see a man going round undertaking himself,
as you do II could only get you to have a
proper opinion of yourself-that is, believe
that you are a bigger man than Gen Scott
Or George B. Mcclellan, I'd have some hopes
of you."
@We'll have one grand. big battle with the
Secessionists now, pretty soon-everything's
getting ripe for it-and we'll whip them like
Wellington whipped Napoleon at Waterloo.
Our regiment viii cover itself with glory, in
which You and viii have big share. Then
we'll march back to Sardis with flags flying
and drums beating, everybody turning out,
and the bands playing See, the Conquering
Hero Comes when you and l come down the
street, and well be heroes for the rest of our
natural lives
go ahead, and tell the rest of it TO the
mash tubs and the still I've heard as much
as | can stand, and | must have a breath of
fresh air. I'm going into the other cabin. to
see what's there"
Kent followed him to the door with the jug
in his hand